Ornament for christmas tree



Nov. 30, 1965 H. THOMAS ORNAMENT FOR CHRISTMAS TREE 2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR.

THOMAS Filed Sept. 5, 1961 ATTORNEYS G. H. THOMAS Z Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 30, 1965 d Sept. 5. 1961 United States Patent 3,220,913 ORNAMENT FOR CIRISTMAS TREE George H. Thomas, 1133 Oakhill, Fairhorn, Ohio Filed Sept. 5, 1961, Ser. No. 136,101 1 Claim. (Cl. 16116) This invention relates to ornaments, such as Christmas tree ornaments and the like, and is particularly concerned with a novel type ornament that includes an arrangement whereby the ornament can be caused to emit perfumed vapors. This invention is concerned further with a novel attaching means for attaching Christmas tree ornaments to supports therefor, such as the branches of a Christmas tree.

Christmas tree ornament-s are, of course, well known and take many forms but, so far as is known to me, Christmas tree ornaments have never been arranged to have placed therein a volatile substance which will give oif perfumed vapors, and a particular object of the present invention is a Christmas tree ornament of this nature, and a method of constructing the ornament and devices for placing the perfume bearing substance in the ornament.

A further novel feature of the invention resides in the support means which is provided for the ornament, by means of which the ornament can be suspended from a support, such as the branch of a tree, but whereby the ornament can also be attached to a support so as to extend upright therefrom.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a novel support for Christmas tree ornaments particularly adapted for permitting the ornaments to be suspended or supported in any desired position.

Another object of this invention is the provision for a Christmas tree ornament arrangement which lends itself well to modern manufacturing methods, including procedures for the rapid molding of plastic materials and which ornament construction is of such a nature that the ornament can be made in various sizes and shapes.

The foregoing objects, as well as still other objects and advantages of my invention, will become more apparent upon reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of one ornament construction according to my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the ornament of FIGURE 1, showing how it appears when supported so as to extend vertically upwardly from the support member;

FIGURE 3 is a view like FIGURE 2 but showing how the ornament could be supported upright in a position inverted from that of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view indicated by line 4-4 on FIGURE 1 drawn at enlarged scale and showing in combination with the ornament a modified support arrangement therefor;

FIGURE 5 is a transverse sectional view indicated by line 5-5 on FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view showing a support arrangement for supporting an ornament in a vertical position extending upwardly from an inclined support member;

FIGURE 7 is a vertical sectional view similar to FIG- URE 4 but showing a solid perfume bearing member in the ornament, such as a porous ceramic member;

FIGURE 8 is a sectional view similar to FIGURE 4 which shows how a container for a volatile jelly or liquid could be included in the ornament structure;

FIGURE 9 is still another sectional view similar to FIGURE 4 but shows a porous member, such as a felt cartridge in the ornament;

FIGURE 10 is a vertical sectional view similar to FIGURE 4 but shows an ornament of another shape hav- 3,220,913 Patented Nov. 30, 1965 ing therein a solid perfume bearing member, such as a porous ceramic member, or a subliming solid;

FIGURE 11 is a cross sectional view indicated by line 1111 on FIGURE 10;

FIGURE 12 is a view like FIGURE 10 but shows an ornament of still another shape;

FIGURE 13 is still another view like FIGURE 10 which shows an ornament of a still different shape;

FIGURE 14 is a view showing how the tapered holes in the end of the ornament could be employed for interconnecting two ornaments, such as the triangular shaped ornament of FIGURE 1 with another of the same shape to form a double cone-type element such as is shown in FIGURE 10;

FIGURE 14a is a view like FIGURE 14 but shows two ornaments interconnected by a double tapered plug in a somewhat different manner;

FIGURE 15 is a view showing a fragmentary part of a separable ornament wtih a snap lock;

FIGURE 16 is a fragmentary view showing a modified arrangement which permits angular adjustment of the ornament relative to its support;

FIGURE 17 is a view showing a modified arrangement of an adjustable support for an ornament;

FIGURE 18 is a side view partly broken away of the adjustable support arrangement of FIGURE 17;

FIGURE 19 is a view partly broken away showing a support for an ornament which is self adjusting in that it always urges the ornament toward a vertical position;

FIGURE 20 is a side view of the FIGURE 19 arrangement; and

FIGURE 21 is a view showing another ornament supporting device according to my invention.

Referring to the drawings somewhat more in detail, the ornament illustrated in FIGURES l to 4 comprises a generally conical body which is hollow and which has a closure member 12 attached to the open side thereof as by means of a bayonet type latch 14. According to the present invention, the conical body part 10 adjacent the point end thereof is provided with a plurality of air passages 16 while the cover member or end member 12 is similarly provided with a plurality of air passages 18. This arrangement provides for the circulation of air through the interior of the ornament and, if the ornament is suspended from the branch of a Christmas tree, there will normally be a substantial movement of air about the tree. This movement of air is availed of for causing a perfumed vapor to be emitted by the ornament when a volatile substance containing perfume is placed within the ornament.

In FIGURE 4 there is provided within the ornament a cup like well member 20 which rests on ribs 22 extending upwardly from the inside of end member 12. This cup-like member has holes 24 therein adjacent the bottom edge through which liquid can flow from the inside of the cup-like member to the outside. Closely surrounding the cup-like member is a wick element 26 which will absorb the liquid and distribute it over a large area so that air passing through the interior of the ornament will pick up the perfumed vapors and carry them to the outside of the ornament.

The FIGURE 4 arrangment is paticularly adapted for having a rupturable capsule 25 placed within the cup member, which capsule is engaged at the top by the ribs 30. Ribs 30, when the two parts of the ornament are placed together, will force the capsule downwardly against the bottom wall of cup element 20 so that a point 32 thereon will rupture the lower wall of the capsule and release the liquid therefrom to be picked up by the wicking element 26 in the manner prescribed.

The ornament in FIGURES 1 to 4 is provided with a tapered hole 34 in the point end and a corresponding tapered hole 36 in the middle of end member 12. These tapered holes are availed of for mounting the ornament, utilizing tapered plugs as at 38. The degree of taper of the plugs and the holes is selected so that the plugs will cling in the holes but can be readily released therefrom. While the specific angle of the taper will vary somewhat for different materials, the angle will be about the same as that employed for other clinging or sticking tapers, such as the Morse taper that is encountered in the machine tool trade on the shanks of drills and the like.

In FIGURE 1, the plug 38 has a flexible element 40 attached thereto that extends upwardly to an attaching deivce 42 that can be connected with a support such as the branch of a tree.

In FIGURE 2, the ornament extends vertically upwardly with its point end down and the plug that engages the tapered hole in the ornament is indicated at 44 and has integral therewith a relatively rigid rod like extension 46 that has a similarly shaped plug portion 48 at its lower end. As will be seen in FIGURE 6, the plug portion 48 is adapted for being received in a tapered hole in a member 50, forming a portion of an attaching device by means of which the ornament can be attached to a support, such as is indicated at 52, and which might consist of the branch of a tree, or the like.

The particular attaching device illustrated in FIGURE 6, which could be the same as the attaching devices indicated in FIGURES 1,. 2 and 3, consist of a band 54 passing around member 52 and engaged with member 50 as by the threads 56 therein. In cases where the member 50 is inclined from the horizontal, a tapered washer element 58 can be placed between member 50 and member 52 to get the ornament supported in a vertical position.

FIGURE 3 illustrates that the tapered hole 36 in the bottom of the ornament could be employed for receiving a rigid type connector 60, which could be the same as that illustrated in FIGURE 6 so that the ornament could be supported in either of its FIGURE 2 or 3 positions above the supporting member.

The aforementioned ribs 22 in member 12 and ribs 30 in the upper part of the hollow conical body of the ornament can also be availed of for supporting in the ornament perfuming devices of a type different than what is illustrated in FIGURE 4.

In Figure 7, the cup like well member 20 is removed from the ornament and the ornament is then adapted for receiving a member such as the ceramic element 62, which is porous and which can be saturated with a liquid perfume which will slowly evaporate and perfumed air will pass upwardly through the ornament.

The cup-like well member 20 in FIGURE 4 can be cemented in position therein to form a permanent part of the ornament or it can be loosely deposited therein so that the rupturable capsule in FIGURE 4 can be employed or so that a ceramic member as illustrated in FIGURE 7 can be employed.

FIGURE 9 illustrates how the same ornament could receive a felt cartridge 64 which could be saturated with liquid perfume which would evaporate in the same manner as the perfume would evaporate from the porous ceramic element in FIGURE 7.

FIGURE 8 shows an arrangement somewhat modified from that of FIGURE 4 in that the well 66 in FIGURE 8 is adapted for receiving a volatile jelly like material 68 which will slowly evaporate and give off perfume to the air passing upwardly through the ornament.

The principal showing of an ornament and the views referred to above have been that of a conical ornament but FIGURES 10 through 13 show that the same basic idea could be employed with differently shaped ornaments. In FIGURE 10, for example, the ornament 70 is in the form of a double cone and the same basic arrangement is had with ribs 72 and 7.4 being provided for supporting a ceramic or felt element or for supporting a well within the hollow ornament. The same air passages 75 and 76 provide for the passage of air through the ornament or for the discharge of perfumed vapors therefrom.

FIGURE 12 shows how the ornament could be made to be cylindrical, with a lower part 80 and an upper part 82..

FIGURE 13 illustrates a somewhat cigar-shaped ornament 84 constructed about the same as either of the ornaments in FIGURES 10 or 12.

FIGURE 4 illustrates a somewhat modified support arrangement that cuould be employed with any of the ornaments, this arrangement comprising a bead chain 84 leading from tapered member 38 to a flexible band 86 having cooperating elements 88 of an adjustable latch on the ends of the band so that the band could be placed about a support member, such as a tree branch, and the ornament detachably supported thereon.

All of the several modifications referred to above have in common the attaching arrangements and the feature of being able to have placed therein a perfuming agency of some material, such as the ones specifically described. The ornaments are adaptable to any size and can be made small for indoor trees and can be made larger for larger indoor trees and can also be employed in connection with the decoration of outside trees. For the last mentioned application, the provision for supporting the ornaments so that they extend vertically upwardly would be particularly effective.

The ornaments could be formed of many different materials but it is contemplated that one of the principal materials will be plastic, such as polystyrene, which molds and machines Well and is inexpensive. This material will also permit coloring of the ornaments as by dyes and pigments in the plastic material or by application thereto of a color coating or by applying to the ornaments by plating, such as wet plating, gas plating or from the vapor phase of metallic materials. Combinations of the several possibilities mentioned for decorating the ornaments can be employed in many different combinations to arrive at a wide variety of colorful and attractive finished ornaments.

As to some of the modifications that can be made in the basic ornament structure, FIGURE 14 shows two cone-shaped ornaments 11 and 13 which can be interconnected by a double tapered plug element 15 to form a singular conical element about like what is shown in FIGURE 10. The tapered holes 17 and 19 in the ends of the composite ornament could be availed for supporting or suspending it wherever desired.

FIGURE 14:: shows that the ornaments could be arranged in the manner .in which they are arranged in FIGURE 14 by availing of the same sort of interconnecting double plugrmember.

The ornaments described above have been characterized in employing a bayonet type joint and would generally be preferred for extremely stiff plastics. However, where the resilience of the plastics permits, which would include relatively rigid plastic materials, a snap joint as is illustrated in FIGURE 15 could be employed. In this figure, the one ornament part 21 has a dependent flange with an arc-uate raised part 23 thereon while the other ornament part 25 has a flange with an arcuate recess 27.. This permits the ornament parts to be snapped together and taken apart quite readily and avoids special molding problems that would interfere with the production of the ornament.

The ornament has heretofore been described as one which is separable along a parting line that is horizontal with respect to the usual position of the ornament, but it will be evident that the parting line could be arranged vertically, or in any other manner, and that the principles of the. present invention would still obtain, and that the ornament could be separated for receiving a perfume or perfume bearing material and then placed together to form the completed ornament,

In FIGURE 16 I show a modified support wherein a support member 51 which may be the same as the support member in FIGURE 6 rotatably receives a ball 53 in the upper end that has a tapered recess 55 for receiving a tapered plug. This arrangement would permit the ornament to be supported at any desired angle to the supporting member thus eliminating the tapered washer 58 of FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 17 shows a member adapted for attaching to a support 92 such as a tree branch and having pivotally mounted in the upper end thereof a member 94 that includes a tapered plug element 96. As will be seen in FIGURE 18, the upper end of member 90 is slotted and member 94 is a disc-like element that fits therein and is flexibly retained in place but is adjustable so that an ornament can always be arranged to be supported at the desired angle which will usually be vertically upwardly or downwardly.

FIGURE 19 shows an arrangement where .a support member 98, which is adapted for being secured to a branch or other support element, has a tapered recess therein for receiving a tapered plug 102 that is rigid with a transverse rod 104 that pivotally engages a yoke 106 which, in turn, has a tapered ornament engaging portion 108. The yoke 106 has dependent legs 110 which are weighted as by weight means 112 so that the ornament 114 supported by the holder always tends to assume a vertical position.

In FIGURE 21, I show a supporting arrangement in which a tapered plug 116 adapted for being received in a tapered hole in an ornament is carried on a wire 118 which is flexible and which can simply be wrapped about or twisted about a support such as a tree branch, The wire 118 may, of course, be plastic coated, but is, essentially, merely a bendable wire or ribbon of a suitable cross section area.

It will be understood that the perfumes referred to above could be in the form of liquids, or subliming solids, or jellies, and that they would generally comprise essential oils, such as pine oil, in order to give sufiicient perfurning capacity for the same quantity that would be placed in the usual ornament.

The decorative eflect of the ornaments could be pro- 6 outside or inside, so that they could be illuminated by external lighting as, for example, by black lighting which will be particularly eifective for outdoor displays.

It will be understood that this invention is susceptible to modification in order to adapt it to different usages and conditions and, accordingly, it is desired to comprehend such modifications within this invention as may fall within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A Christmas tree ornament comprising; a generally hollow conical shaped body having a plurality of air passages adjacent the point end thereof and also having a tapered hole in said point end which is adapted to receive a tapered plug means, a closure member having air passages therein communicating with the interior of said body and being removably attached to the open side of said body, said closure member having a tapered hole therein which is adapted to receive a tapered plug means, tapered plug means having a taper adapted to provide a sticking taper with both said tapered holes, said tapered plug means and said tapered holes providing reversible hanging means for supporting said body, rib means extending upwardly from said closure member towards the interior of said body, a cup-shaped member having the bottom thereof resting on said rib means and having holes adjacent the bottom edge through which liquid can flow, a wick element surrounding said cup-shaped member for picking up liquid flowing from said cup-shaped member, rib means depending from said point end towards the interior of said body, and piercing means projecting upwardly from the bottom of said cup-shaped member for rupturing a capsule when said capsule is compressed between said piercing means and said rib means at said point end.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,644,482 10/1927 Muller 4114 2,209,914 7/1940 Gerber et al. 41-14 2,726,320 12/1955 Damiano 41-10 2,925,678 2/1960 Burnbaum 4l10 2,990,640 7/1961 Burnbaum 4110 FOREIGN PATENTS 274,140 11/1926 Great Britain.

ALEXANDER WYMAN, Primary Examiner. EARL M. BERGERT, JACOB STEINBERG, Examiners. 

